Mavs-Pacers Conclusions: Believe It or Not, Now Isn’t the Time to Panic

At first glance, the panic button seems like a viable option for the Mavericks right now.

They woke up Wednesday morning at the play-in tournament. They lost two of their first three games at home in the six-game season that lasted against three record losing teams, no less. Their protection – let’s be diplomatic? – work in progress. They hope to beat the opponent on points, but their offense is still not debugged.

Everything looks bad.

But please remember: the season doesn’t end today. A lot will change before April 10, when the regular season ends. And we will not embellish things. They may get worse before they get better.

But the Mavericks can just as easily move up the standings thanks to consistent play as they can go down due to continued coughing and wheezing.

But here and now it’s ugly. And with a big team coming to town from Philadelphia on Thursday and from Phoenix on Sunday, it won’t be easy to fight this phantom.

And, to put it mildly, losing 124-122 to Indiana on Tuesday was hard to swallow.

Here are our good and bad news from it:

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: OK, Kyrie Irving missed out on a potential game winner in the Mavericks’ last possession. Happens. But what pleased me was that he pulled himself together. The game was waiting for him, it was pretty well played, and he had the opportunity to get close to the basket for a tied two-pointer or try a triple. He opted for a long pass and despite not being the case, it was a step in the right direction for this team. Having Luka Doncic and Irving on the same team should be a blessing, not a burden, to fight for the ball (or lay it down and pass too much) when games are on the line. This time, Irving had an opportunity. “You look great,” said Jason Kidd. “Performed the last performance. Kai had a choice: two or three. He had a good look. I thought it was good.” Except for the result.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO RELY ON INSULT. . . : It was nice to hear Kidd talk about how these Mavericks will have to win on offense. You almost never hear it in the NBA. And teams that don’t play at least spotty defense almost never do much in the playoffs. But that’s what these Mavericks are. “That will be part of our defense, getting the ball into the basket,” Kidd says. “And then, sometimes, we are not going to stop anyone. We just have to surpass them. We feel that we have the talent to win these games. And we will.” That’s all good. But if that’s the case, your offense has to be really accurate and effective. You can’t hit the free throw line 20 times in the first half and only do 10. And you can’t let Doncic score 30 points in the first and third quarters and only nine in the second and fourth combined.The offense has to be flawless, especially late.“When we look at the next step to be able to finish these games or have a late game, you want to make it to 15 or April 16, when the playoffs start, then everyone will understand what they have to do, ”Kidd said.

EAST BLOCK: Remember the rule of thumb that good teams in the Western Conference had to feast in the East and then try to match or so in the West in order to be relevant? How times have changed. The Mavericks are 8-14 against teams in the Eastern Conference. And given that Philadelphia is coming to us on Thursday, it will not be easy to improve this indicator.

Twitter: @ESefko